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Our Equines' Diet
The low sugar/starch diet
Since
three of our equine residents are insulin resistant a low sugar/starch
diet is pretty much a way of life here at Shotgun Ranch. We try &
buy hay that is under 10% in sugar/starch or else we have to soak
the hay to lower the sugar content by 30%. Unfortunately, soaking does
not reduce the starch. Once we
find hay that is suitable for our insulin resistant residents, we
go one step farther and balance our minerals
to our hay.
Why do we balance our minerals to our hay?
I
have seen horseowners spend a small fortune on equine
supplements, unfortunately most of the time they are not only wasting
their money but can actually be causing more harm than good. A
common misconception perpetuated by some popular supplement companies
is that a horse will naturally eat the minerals his body needs. Enter
the controversy of the free-choice minerals.
Now, I realize that there are many horseowners that are in a boarding situation or do not have the storage space to buy their hay in bulk as we do. For these situations a regional custom mineral mix is a viable alternative. A member from the Yahoo Equine Cushings list made up such a mix for AZ grown bermuda hay. It can be purchased at:
http://www.horsetech.com/
With a little research and expert advice you can have a regional mix made up for your part of the country.
Bermuda vs. Alfalfa
We only feed bermuda hay because while horses love alfalfa, a diet of STRAIGHT alfalfa is not suitable for our equine friends. There is much controversy on feeding straight alfalfa and I could provide links ad nauseum on this topic. The bottom line is that alfalfa is usually too high in protein & starch and virtually impossible to mineral balance. Many insulin resistant horses cannot tolerate alfalfa. However, if my grass hay were too low on protein I would consider supplementing with 1-2 pounds of alfalfa but I personally would never feed my horses a diet of straight alfalfa.
How often to feed?
My answer would be as often as you can.
First of all, humans have ignored the fact that horses are grazing animals with digestive tracts best suited for foraging for 15-20 hours per day. Limiting their feed intake to twice a day has a produced a myriad of health problems (ie. ulcers) and behavior issues such as pacing, cribbing, wood chewing, etc.
We feed our horses at least 3 times a day in the summer, and sometimes 4 times a day in the winter when there is no pasture available to nibble on.
What about supplements & herbs?
Horses are herbivores & were meant to eat a variety of grasses and wild herbs.
Our horses & donkeys love herbs like peppermint, spearmint, chamomile, meadowsweet, marshmallow root, raspberry leaves, lemon balm & rosehips to name a few. I add them to their daily supplement buckets.
They get their supplements in the morning and at night. The supplements are based on each donkey or horse's individual needs. Of course, they all get our custom mineral mix and iodized salt, stabilized flax (for omegas 3 & 6) and Vit E. I usually mix their supplements with some rinsed and soaked beet pulp & sometimes I'll throw in a handful of low sugar/starch pellets.
A word on Flax & Vitamin E
The horse's natural diet is very low in fats, grass only has 4-6% fat. However, grass does have a high content of essential Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.
Omega 3 is antiinflammatory, while Omega 6 is proinflammatory. The ratio found in fresh grasses is around 4:1 Omega-3 to Omega-6. When you feed hay, most of the fragile Omegas are lost.
Since ground flax seed has the closest to fresh grass Omega fatty acid ratio, this what I feed. You can buy the seeds whole & grind them yourself but I find the stabilized flax more convenient.
I get mine at either one of the following places:
http://www.omegafields.com/productDetail.asp_Q_catID_E_2_A_subCatID_E_1_A_productID_E_19
or
http://www.horsetech.com/nutra-flax.htm#Quick%20Links%20to%20Product%20Pages
Horses that are on pasture do not require Vitamin E supplementation. However, horses with no access to pasture do require supplementation. Because of the important antioxidant functions of Vitamin E on exercising horses & horses in compromised situations, such as IR; doubling the recommended amount set by the National Research Council (NRC) seems reasonable. So, I supply my horses with twice the amount recommended, which is 2 IU of vitamin E per pound of bodyweight. It is also important to know that Vitamin E requires fat for absorption so it is best to mix it into some oil first if feeding it in the powdered form, or you can do as I do and feed the human supplement gelcaps with oil already in them.
I get mine at Swanson Vitamins on line
http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SW144/ItemDetail?n=0
Fixing the supplement buckets.......
Doc digging into his supplements and herbs ...
And our adorable donkeys (Gus & Ruthie) do the same...
What about beet pulp?
I am a big beet pulp fan. I feed the shreds and I always rinse (in case of added molasses & to wash off surface dirt) & soak them. Beet pulp is an ideal feed for horses, it is both a prebiotic and a concentrated calorie source but because of the high soluble fiber content of beet pulp it produces an almost undetectable glycemic spike. For more about beet pulp go to Susan Evans Garlinghouse website and read about <The Myths and Reality of Beet Pulp> & do not miss out on reading her famous<Beet Pulp Safety Warning> you'll love it. However, don't forget to use your back button to get back to us.
Susan Evans Garlinghouse's site
24/7 Turnout
The other injustice we have imposed on the horse is confinement. Horses were made to roam and travel between 15 to 20 miles a day, but we have incarcerated them for our convenience. Many of the common health problems and lameness afflicting domestic horses are a direct result of man-made violations of their natural lifestyle. Here at Shotgun Ranch we try & provide our horses & donkeys with the most natural environment possible. We have moved fences and put back gates in our stalls so that they may remain open for them at all times. We have even re-hung gates so that they are flush with the fence when left open. They sleep wherever they please. They are healthier and happier than I have ever seen them.
I quote Dr. Eleanor Kellon,
renowned equine nutrionist and author.
<<<It's a myth that horses will only eat
what they need, or that they can "tell" what minerals are in
something they eat and will naturally/instinctively regulate their
intakes to achieve mineral balance. Take food choices for example. If
you give a horse the choice of eating alfalfa or a grass hay with a
more healthful mineral balance, which are they going to choose? Put
out a dish of free choice, unflavored phosphorus supplement next to
that alfalfa and they won't take what they need - if any at all -
because it's not palatable. Give a horse a choice of plain oats with
unflavored, balancing mineral pellets added, plain oats alone, or
oats coated with molasses. Can you predict their preferences?>>>
What people don't seem to understand about minerals is that it's not only about quantity, it's about balance and ratios. If you don't know the mineral content of your hay and give your horse a supplement with X amount of minerals, you could actually be causing more of an imbalance. Mineral imbalances can cause all kinds of problems, such as a bleached out coat and mane in a dark horse which is usually caused by a copper & zinc imbalance...and here you were blaming it on the sun. Horses with mineral imbalances can also exhibit signs of hypothyroidism, muscle soreness, poor hoof & coat quality, etc.
So, in order to give your horse the vitamins and minerals he needs, you need to know what minerals are already in his feed. Does that make sense?? If your hay has extraordinarly high amounts of one mineral you obviously can't remove it from your hay but you can balance (or maybe the word "neutralize" would be a better word) it with the appropriate mineral. For example, AZ grown hay is traditionally high in iron and potassium. Potassium is usually not a problem because potassium excess is rapidly excreted by the kidneys, but not so with iron, unfortunately the horse has no way to actively excrete iron. Which is why iron deficient anemia has never been documented in an adult horse. So, in order to "neutralize" the iron you would balance the high iron with copper, then balance the zinc & manganese to the copper. By the way, did you know that iron is quite possibly the most over supplemented mineral in the equine diet. Just look at your commercial horse supplement labels, they almost always have iron in them, assuming of course they actually list it.
What about Salt?
On the other hand, equine diets are generally low in sodium but most horseowners don't understand how important it is to supplement sodium. Many horseowners feel that a salt lick is all their horse needs. An 1100 pound horse at maintenance requires 10 grams of sodium a day. He would have to consume a 2 pound salt lick a month to meet minimal requirements. A plain (not a mineral one) salt lick is fine if your horse actually consumes it. Here at Shotgun Ranch we add iodized table salt to our horses' feed to meet their sodium, chloride & iodine requirements....one ounce in the winter & two ounces in the summer.
How do we balance our hay?
When it's time to buy hay, we go to our supplier (armed with our battery-powered drill & corer) & core several stacks of hay. Then we send the samples to Equi-Analytical Labs for analysis. Once we get the results we decide which stacks we want to buy based on the levels of sugar, starch and the protein & mineral profiles.
I then determine which & what amounts of minerals
are required to
balance each stack of hay and
order a custom mineral mix for each stack.<<<It's a myth that horses will only eat
what they need, or that they can "tell" what minerals are in
something they eat and will naturally/instinctively regulate their
intakes to achieve mineral balance. Take food choices for example. If
you give a horse the choice of eating alfalfa or a grass hay with a
more healthful mineral balance, which are they going to choose? Put
out a dish of free choice, unflavored phosphorus supplement next to
that alfalfa and they won't take what they need - if any at all -
because it's not palatable. Give a horse a choice of plain oats with
unflavored, balancing mineral pellets added, plain oats alone, or
oats coated with molasses. Can you predict their preferences?>>>
What people don't seem to understand about minerals is that it's not only about quantity, it's about balance and ratios. If you don't know the mineral content of your hay and give your horse a supplement with X amount of minerals, you could actually be causing more of an imbalance. Mineral imbalances can cause all kinds of problems, such as a bleached out coat and mane in a dark horse which is usually caused by a copper & zinc imbalance...and here you were blaming it on the sun. Horses with mineral imbalances can also exhibit signs of hypothyroidism, muscle soreness, poor hoof & coat quality, etc.
So, in order to give your horse the vitamins and minerals he needs, you need to know what minerals are already in his feed. Does that make sense?? If your hay has extraordinarly high amounts of one mineral you obviously can't remove it from your hay but you can balance (or maybe the word "neutralize" would be a better word) it with the appropriate mineral. For example, AZ grown hay is traditionally high in iron and potassium. Potassium is usually not a problem because potassium excess is rapidly excreted by the kidneys, but not so with iron, unfortunately the horse has no way to actively excrete iron. Which is why iron deficient anemia has never been documented in an adult horse. So, in order to "neutralize" the iron you would balance the high iron with copper, then balance the zinc & manganese to the copper. By the way, did you know that iron is quite possibly the most over supplemented mineral in the equine diet. Just look at your commercial horse supplement labels, they almost always have iron in them, assuming of course they actually list it.
What about Salt?
On the other hand, equine diets are generally low in sodium but most horseowners don't understand how important it is to supplement sodium. Many horseowners feel that a salt lick is all their horse needs. An 1100 pound horse at maintenance requires 10 grams of sodium a day. He would have to consume a 2 pound salt lick a month to meet minimal requirements. A plain (not a mineral one) salt lick is fine if your horse actually consumes it. Here at Shotgun Ranch we add iodized table salt to our horses' feed to meet their sodium, chloride & iodine requirements....one ounce in the winter & two ounces in the summer.
How do we balance our hay?
When it's time to buy hay, we go to our supplier (armed with our battery-powered drill & corer) & core several stacks of hay. Then we send the samples to Equi-Analytical Labs for analysis. Once we get the results we decide which stacks we want to buy based on the levels of sugar, starch and the protein & mineral profiles.
Now, I realize that there are many horseowners that are in a boarding situation or do not have the storage space to buy their hay in bulk as we do. For these situations a regional custom mineral mix is a viable alternative. A member from the Yahoo Equine Cushings list made up such a mix for AZ grown bermuda hay. It can be purchased at:
http://www.horsetech.com/
With a little research and expert advice you can have a regional mix made up for your part of the country.
Bermuda vs. Alfalfa
We only feed bermuda hay because while horses love alfalfa, a diet of STRAIGHT alfalfa is not suitable for our equine friends. There is much controversy on feeding straight alfalfa and I could provide links ad nauseum on this topic. The bottom line is that alfalfa is usually too high in protein & starch and virtually impossible to mineral balance. Many insulin resistant horses cannot tolerate alfalfa. However, if my grass hay were too low on protein I would consider supplementing with 1-2 pounds of alfalfa but I personally would never feed my horses a diet of straight alfalfa.
How often to feed?
My answer would be as often as you can.
First of all, humans have ignored the fact that horses are grazing animals with digestive tracts best suited for foraging for 15-20 hours per day. Limiting their feed intake to twice a day has a produced a myriad of health problems (ie. ulcers) and behavior issues such as pacing, cribbing, wood chewing, etc.
We feed our horses at least 3 times a day in the summer, and sometimes 4 times a day in the winter when there is no pasture available to nibble on.
What about supplements & herbs?
Horses are herbivores & were meant to eat a variety of grasses and wild herbs.
Our horses & donkeys love herbs like peppermint, spearmint, chamomile, meadowsweet, marshmallow root, raspberry leaves, lemon balm & rosehips to name a few. I add them to their daily supplement buckets.
They get their supplements in the morning and at night. The supplements are based on each donkey or horse's individual needs. Of course, they all get our custom mineral mix and iodized salt, stabilized flax (for omegas 3 & 6) and Vit E. I usually mix their supplements with some rinsed and soaked beet pulp & sometimes I'll throw in a handful of low sugar/starch pellets.
A word on Flax & Vitamin E
The horse's natural diet is very low in fats, grass only has 4-6% fat. However, grass does have a high content of essential Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.
Omega 3 is antiinflammatory, while Omega 6 is proinflammatory. The ratio found in fresh grasses is around 4:1 Omega-3 to Omega-6. When you feed hay, most of the fragile Omegas are lost.
Since ground flax seed has the closest to fresh grass Omega fatty acid ratio, this what I feed. You can buy the seeds whole & grind them yourself but I find the stabilized flax more convenient.
I get mine at either one of the following places:
http://www.omegafields.com/productDetail.asp_Q_catID_E_2_A_subCatID_E_1_A_productID_E_19
or
http://www.horsetech.com/nutra-flax.htm#Quick%20Links%20to%20Product%20Pages
Horses that are on pasture do not require Vitamin E supplementation. However, horses with no access to pasture do require supplementation. Because of the important antioxidant functions of Vitamin E on exercising horses & horses in compromised situations, such as IR; doubling the recommended amount set by the National Research Council (NRC) seems reasonable. So, I supply my horses with twice the amount recommended, which is 2 IU of vitamin E per pound of bodyweight. It is also important to know that Vitamin E requires fat for absorption so it is best to mix it into some oil first if feeding it in the powdered form, or you can do as I do and feed the human supplement gelcaps with oil already in them.
I get mine at Swanson Vitamins on line
http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SW144/ItemDetail?n=0
Fixing the supplement buckets.......
Doc digging into his supplements and herbs ...
And our adorable donkeys (Gus & Ruthie) do the same...
What about beet pulp?
I am a big beet pulp fan. I feed the shreds and I always rinse (in case of added molasses & to wash off surface dirt) & soak them. Beet pulp is an ideal feed for horses, it is both a prebiotic and a concentrated calorie source but because of the high soluble fiber content of beet pulp it produces an almost undetectable glycemic spike. For more about beet pulp go to Susan Evans Garlinghouse website and read about <The Myths and Reality of Beet Pulp> & do not miss out on reading her famous<Beet Pulp Safety Warning> you'll love it. However, don't forget to use your back button to get back to us.
Susan Evans Garlinghouse's site
24/7 Turnout
The other injustice we have imposed on the horse is confinement. Horses were made to roam and travel between 15 to 20 miles a day, but we have incarcerated them for our convenience. Many of the common health problems and lameness afflicting domestic horses are a direct result of man-made violations of their natural lifestyle. Here at Shotgun Ranch we try & provide our horses & donkeys with the most natural environment possible. We have moved fences and put back gates in our stalls so that they may remain open for them at all times. We have even re-hung gates so that they are flush with the fence when left open. They sleep wherever they please. They are healthier and happier than I have ever seen them.
References/Resources
I joined the Equine Cushings group in 2000 & will be forever grateful for the sharing of information & support I have received from this wonderful group of caring horseowners. There must be a reason why this group has over 8000 members...emotional support....cutting edge information & resources and lots of caring.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/EquineCushings/
There are no adequate words of gratitude for Dr. Kellon who has not only shared her expertise & research with me but who has been there for me through the many highs & lows of dealing with cushings, insulin resistance, PSSM and severe arthritic/lameness issues. I have been very fortunate to have taken all (yes...ALL) of her on-line courses & highly recommend them to all those who have anything to do with horses. For years Dr. Kellon balanced my horses' diets for me. However, with her guidance and her nutrition courses as of March of 2008 I have been balancing my own horses/donkeys diets.
For information on Dr. Kellon's courses visit: http://www.drkellon.com
April 2009